Highlights
- You have another reason to gorge on chocolates
- What happens is epicatechin monomers is protecting the cells
- The team fed the cocoa compound to animals on a high-fat diet
Dark chocolate lovers, rejoice! You have another reason to gorge on chocolates. According to a study published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, compounds found in cocoa- the main ingredient of chocolate can actually help prevent the risk of diabetes. Yes, you read that right. The new findings suggest that a cocoa compound named epicatechin monomers helps the body release more insulin and further responds to increased blood glucose better. When a person has diabetes, their body either stops producing enough insulin or does not process blood sugar properly, because of the failure of beta cells that produce insulin.
The study discovered that the increased presence of epcatechin monomers helped beta cells to remain stronger as well as enhanced their ability to secrete insulin. "What happens is epicatechin monomers is protecting the cells, increasing their ability to deal with oxidative stress," said lead author Jeffery Tessem, assistant professor at Brigham Young University (BYU), US.
"The epicatechin monomers are making the mitochondria in the beta cells stronger, which produces more ATP (a cell's energy source), which then results in more insulin being released," Tessem added. For the study, the team fed the cocoa compound to animals on a high-fat diet. The results suggested that by adding it to a high fat diet, the compound reduced the level of obesity in the animals and increased their ability to deal with increased blood glucose levels.
"These results will help us get closer to using these compounds more effectively in foods or supplements to maintain normal blood glucose control and potentially even delay or prevent the onset of Type-2 diabetes," said study co-author Andrew Neilson, assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
With Inputs from IANS